Masurao
by cottoncandyinyourface
Summary: "This daft blonde can't possibly be the missing Prince." Maybe their happily ever after was somewhere beyond the corrupted kingdoms and jaded knights. Team 7-ish. SasuSaku. AU.


**Prologue**

**The Flickering Flame**

_"The Will of Fire is something that burns brightly and brilliantly within all of us. It is a philosophy that I live by and it has become a part of our kingdom's spiritual heritage. It is an ideal rooting from the belief of the first King that love is the key to peace. Every true Konoha citizen must love, believe, cherish and fight for the kingdom's sake, as previous generations had done before them. _

_This is what gives Konoha warriors and citizens alike the strength to continue fighting against all odds, building willpower and strength of character. It symbolizes the hopes and dreams of the previous generation being passed on to the next. _

_As the Fourth King of Konoha, I swear that I'll do whatever it takes to keep this fire alive, like the previous kings had."_

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The kingdom of Konoha had prospered for centuries under the rule of the Sarutobi. Generations after generations of the Sarutobi lineage took the throne, and not once did any of the past Kings or Queens fail the country. Their Will of Fire never once faltered or dimmed.

Among those that protected and maintained the order within the kingdom were the Uchiha. Their entire clan made up the main forces that sought to protect the Royal Family and their beloved kingdom. Their clan consisted of, but was not limited to, skillful swordsmen and lancers and most of them were secondarily fire Uchiha were under the King's direct command and served no one else but those of the royal blood. It was common knowledge that the clan could be vicious when the Royal Family or Konoha was ever threatened. They were ferociously loyal to the King, if not the country.

The Hyuuga clan was another force to be reckoned with. They acted as citizens' guards, protecting them from outside threats and, occasionally, themselves. They were all close-combat fighters, well-versed in martial arts. They felled opponents with dignified but deadly swiftness. These two clans could never see eye to eye unless a situation called for absolute cooperation.

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Hiruzen Sarutobi realized that he was not getting any younger and he was, indeed, getting far too old to be ruling over a huge country like Konoha. While it was peaceful within Konoha, Sarutobi was not ignorant of the dangers and threats that Konoha's prosperity attracted. The citizens may think that all he did was sit on his throne and order people to do his bidding, but in actual fact it was merely a facade that he put up in front of the people. He was well aware of the growing tension among countries when Konoha once again managed to spread news of its successes across countries. He could see the sarcasm and spite underlying every congratulatory letter from various Royal Families of the other countries.

The only thing that hindered Hiruzen from handing over the throne was the lack of someone to hand it to. He used to have a heir, only one, but the adventurous fool had snuck out and went too deep into one of the dangerous forests outside of Konoha. He never came back. It had been a tough time for Hiruzen. The country had been unsettled and he had no choice but to tell them the truth of his son's death with no small amount of shame.

So Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to hand the throne over to his trusted pupil, Minato Namikaze. Prior to crowning him king, Hiruzen had educated and trained the young blonde the ways of the Royal Families and how to rule a kingdom. He had asked one of his former pupils, Jiraiya, to help mentor and polish the soon-to-be King. Hiruzen had not been sure how Konoha would react when he announced a new king who was not a Sarutobi, like the previous kings had been.

It turned out that his worries were for nothing.

The young King was powerful, humble and kind and ruled well. Konoha thrived under his reign and the Will of Fire continued blazing.

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Sarutobi passed away due to old age four months later. For days, the country shouldered a somber atmosphere until King Minato decided that enough was enough and the previous King wouldn't have liked to see his country looking so dull and unhappy. By the following week, everyone returned to their usual selves and life went on with the great late King locked securely in their memories.

Then one day, Queen Kushina announced that she was bearing the King's child.

The entire kingdom waited with bated breath for the heir or heiress to be born. Kushina was not allowed to wander anywhere without at least a pair of guards and she was not allowed to step out of the border which separated the town from the villages that surrounded the wealthier part of the kingdom. Namikaze Minato was not an arrogant man blinded by riches and power. He simply loved his wife too much and wanted to protect her from the countless dangers that he knew lacked beyond the walls of Konoha.

Exactly nine months later, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy with hair of gold and eyes of sapphire. The kingdom rejoiced and celebrated the birth of the newborn prince.

The King and Queen named him Naruto Uzumaki, changing his last name to Kushina's maiden name in order to protect the young one as much as they can from their countless enemies. His name was kept a secret, only known by a selected few. Among them was Itachi Uchiha, an elite Knight and his personal guard at that time, Tsunade Senju, the Royal Family's private healer who was also the best healer ever known across the countries, Jiraiya, Minato's mentor and informant, and the elders of the High Council.

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It happened a day later.

Someone managed to slip past the supposedly solid defenses and into the castle, into the King's room, and murdered the Queen, who was still weak from birthing the heir, in her sleep. No one really knew what went on in that room that night, but by the time the guards even heard the slightest sound of a scuffle, Kushina had already passed on and Minato was well on his way to meet his wife. Their child had disappeared that same night.

The Uchihas, with the help of the Hyuugas, barely managed to contain the chaos and uproar that erupted after that tragic incident, calming the citizens enough to put up a semblance of order. Commander Fugaku Uchiha promptly took control and kept the country running for a few weeks which turned to months when no one was eligible enough to take the title of King.

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It didn't take long for conspiracy theories to spread among the people of Konoha.

Most believed that, being their personal guards and hence privy to personal and confidential information, the Uchiha had murdered the Namikaze in order to take over the kingdom. They knew how powerful the Uchihas were, and they knew how being gifted with such skill and talent, it could make someone greedy and power-hungry. They didn't believe that anyone could get past the Uchiha's unparalleled protection.

Those theories quickly ceased when they noticed how Fugaku never once sat on the throne, and he never stepped foot into the royal chambers or ate at the late King's dining table. Whenever a citizen spoke to him about the problems that they usually would tell the King, Fugaku never once kicked anyone out or refused a reasonable request.

Like any other Uchiha, he did not view nobles and the like as higher than himself. Neither did he view peasants as lower than himself. Some called it disrespecting the social hierarchy, some called it humility. The Uchihas were simply in a league of their own. They served no one but Konoha's royal family. Now that the royal family was gone, it was their duty to protect what the late King and the ones before him cherished.

Fugaku worked hard, together with Hiashi Hyuuga and Shikaku Nara from the famed clan of brilliant tacticians and shadow mages, to ensure that the news of the tragedy didn't reach the other countries. How horrifying would it be if their enemies struck Konoha when it was at it's weakest.

Konoha never fully recovered from the unexpected loss of their King.

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6 months later, Danzou took the throne. No one knew how or why it came to be except for the High Council.

For the first few weeks of his rule, the former High Council member was nothing short of kind and understanding. The citizens of Konoha were wary of their new king, but slowly warmed up to him when he showed no malice or hostility.

Then everything took a turn for the worst.

Danzou began taking control of every single thing in Konoha, from food imports and exports, to merchant items, to what was broadcasted on the radio and prints. He raised the taxes to such high numbers that even the nobles were struggling to pay every month. The poorer families who could not afford to pay were forced to send a male to ROOT. The females were taken for their bodies. Konoha became regimental.

ROOT was an organization of elite guards formed by Danzou which had the sole purpose of obeying his every command. All ROOT members were an emotionless shell of their former selves, none having any passion or compassion in their steel eyes. They would patrol the city regularly and mercilessly throw any citizen who broke any of the countless laws dictated by Danzou into the dungeons.

The dungeons, many feet underground, were meant for only the most notorious of criminals to be tortured, interrogated and rot away.

The Uchiha and Hyuuga would adamantly protect the wronged citizens against ROOT, resulting in constant violent brawls in the middle of the streets. It wasn't long before Danzou stripped both clans off their knightly status and began sentencing those that opposed him to the dungeons, where they were left to rot for the rest of their lives.

While both clans were exceptionally strong and boasted elite Knights such as Itachi and Shisui Uchiha, the sheer number of ROOT members easily overwhelmed both forces combined. Those few years were the roughest for the Konoha citizens that opposed Danzou's dictatorship. Their numbers were dwindling with each passing month as one by one, an Uchiha or Hyuuga would be sent to the dungeons.

The two powerful clans remained as the citizens' unofficial vigilantes. They began making secret allies among the clans in hopes of creating an army strong enough to defeat Danzou's prized guards and eventually overthrow their current king. It wasn't easy gathering manpower. Some citizens, even members of certain clans, had fled the country promptly after everyone realized what Danzou was doing to their kingdom.

Despite the circumstances, there were still people who stayed and hoped for the day their missing Prince would return and set the kingdom right.

They watched as Konoha, their home, their sanctuary, crumbled upon herself.

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Five years later, an Uchiha massacred his entire clan, save for one.

A small child of 5 was trembling and staring in petrified horror at his parent's dead bodies when the rescue team found him. He was Sasuke Uchiha, son of Commander Fugaku Uchiha and younger brother to Itachi Uchiha. The latter had mysteriously disappeared after that manslaughter, thus leaving Sasuke as the only known survivor of the Uchiha clan.

It was utter pandemonium.

How was it possible that an entire clan of strong fighters had fallen in just one night?

Was the elite Knight and trusted protector, Itachi Uchiha, the murderer?

Had Itachi been possessed by a witch? Controlled by a sorcerer?

Or had someone else committed the crime and captured Itachi?

Was Sasuke Uchiha involved?

The last question had caused an uproar. Some citizens, blinded by fear and panic from losing half their loyal warriors, had accused Sasuke of playing a part in the massacre. Others, outraged with the unreasonable accusations, had rebutted with fierce arguments to defend the 5 year-old.

A week after the Uchiha massacre, Sasuke was summoned to the Royal Court.

He was then promptly sentenced by the High Council to the dungeons. There were no questions asked, no given opportunity for Sasuke to defend himself. There were no spectators but the High Council, Jiraiya and Tsunade. Little Sasuke had been dragged off, kicking and screaming for his mother.

Jiraiya and Tsunade could not stand for this.

Going behind the Council's backs, Jiraiya snuck into Sasuke's dungeon cell and broke him out. He scooped the child into his arms and teleported them into the next village, where he handed the orphaned boy to his long-time friend, Orochimaru. The infamous swordsman and snake summoner had been exiled from Konoha when they found out about the heinous crimes he committed, crimes of which he had no memory of ever committing. Bitter and resentful, Orochimaru was not easy to convince into helping take care of Sasuke but Jiraiya succeeded eventually.

Jiraiya and Tsunade fled Konoha that same night.

Before they left Konoha, they made Hiashi Hyuuga and Shikaku Nara swear that they would stay in Konoha and await the Prince's return. The heads of the two clans didn't like the fact that Jiraiya and Tsuande were going to scour across the countries in search of the Prince without them, but they understood the gravity of the situation. Should the Prince ever return, the clans had to be there to safeguard him. In the meantime, they still had the duty to watch over the citizens of Konoha.

7 years later, Orochimaru disappeared and Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

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2 years later, at the age of 14, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki crossed paths.

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**Author's Note:** Regarding the title, 'Masurao' means 'hero', 'gentleman' and/or 'warrior'.

Yes, this chapter was basically a super summarized AU rendition of the actual canon plot, with a few changes. However, next chapter onwards will be when the AU-ness really takes off. (Though, to be honest, I'm not really sure if this fic will be worth continuing but I have a ton of ideas for this fic.) The quote right at the top was taken from Sarutobi's speech in the anime and partially from the Naruto Wiki.

This idea hit me while I was watching the anime adaption of Sword Art Online. I was in love with the characters and the action and the weapons and everything. So expect swordsmen, archers, mages, random monsters and the like.

Thank you for reading! Comments and constructive criticism welcomed.


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